Lonely Wounds
by miamiasma
Summary: Chad takes time to relax by the river after a fight, but isn't left alone when a passing schoolmate notices him. ChadXOrihime
1. Walking Together

Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach.

Warning: Confusing feelings and little to no plot. No spoilers. Large amounts of vivid imagination, stupidity, and Hime smiles. Watch out, they're contagious. Oh, and some self-hate. Chad's not a monster!!

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"o-kun? Sado-kun?"

Chad opened his eyes to see one of his female classmates looking down at him. He was sure he looked a mess, bleeding lip, black eye… What else had those boys done to him?

He'd been walking home from school and had to split up with Ichigo, something about Ichigo having to put flowers on a grave, when some neighborhood delinquents ambushed him. Without Ichigo there to fight for him, Chad had let the boys get their anger out on his face. The boys seemed frightened when Chad didn't go down after a few punches (only about 12 to the face and 19 to the gut, nothing much) and hightailed it out of there before the giant boy decided to fight back.

So Chad had wandered away, deciding to rest on the grassy river bank before going back home to his lonely apartment. There was less for him in the messy one room place then there was for him out here. At least here he got colors, the river, some birds chirping, and the random squirrel running over his feet.

He hadn't meant to fall asleep, and was actually glad the girl had woken him up. Now, if only he could remember her name… "Inoue-san."

"Oh! I'm glad you're alright Sado-kun, I thought you were hurt." It was a giggly voice, with lots of love and kindness weaved into it. Chad was a little disappointed in himself for not being able to recognize someone with a voice like that. Especially when it was directed at him. Light orange hair and wide curious eyes was what he noticed first about her. He was surprised to feel his face heat up when he looked into those eyes, and had to quickly look away.

He didn't want to stand up in front of the girl, since it usually scared people if he stood up too fast around them. Something about him being so tall and _big._ No one wanted to be towered over by a monster. While he was worrying over scaring her, she had been talking to him, so he stopped thinking to focus on what she was saying.

"So I thought you might have been abducted by alien robots. At first I thought just normal aliens, but then I noticed that your eye was all swollen, so I knew then it must be robots! You should go to the clinic to have all those scratches fixed up. That's what Tatsuki-chan is always telling me to do."

Chad was surprised, his eyebrows rising beneath the hair shadowing his face. "You fight Inoue-san?"

"Why yes, how did you know Sado-kun? I've only told Tatsuki-chan about my fights with wild bearasaurs in the woods. But usually the honey fairies heal me before I leave, so I don't need to go to the clinic for that. But I do get tripped by ghost strings a lot. See, like this one. Some mean old ghost tripped me today." She pointed to her harm where a large cut was hastily wrapped up in a thin gym towel. There was already blood seeping out and rolling down her arm. Chad's eyebrows rose further, and he found himself wondering where and _how_ the small girl had gotten such a deep cut from tripping.

"But enough about me Sado-kun, we have to get you to the clinic. You seem a little pale all of the sudden. Is it because I mentioned Bearasaurs?" And she spent the next 10 minutes that it took to get to the local clinic explaining why Chad didn't need to worry about Bearasaurs because he looked so strong. It seemed Chad's face didn't know if it should be pale about all the crazy things she kept spouting or blushing at all the sweet things she said with that innocent smile.

It finally settled on a smile when he realized she was walking right next to him the whole time. She hadn't suddenly found something else to do when he stood to his full height on the riverbank, nor had she shied away when he offered her his hand to help her up the steep bank. The cute (yes, he was starting to understand that weird urge to stare at her) girl had just kept talking, smiling as she took his hand.

He was almost disappointed when they reached the clinic. It meant his time was up with the little angel at his side. Something about the sign over the clinic door caught his attention, but that very same attention was almost immediately forced back onto the girl when she tripped on the threshold and he had to catch her.

She giggled out a thank you, not seeming to notice that he hadn't let go yet. She fit perfectly in his arms. They didn't wrap all the way around her and still have forearm to spare like with most people. Chad blushed a deep red at the realization that it could be because of her _very _well developed upper torso. But still, she fit, like she was meant to be held by him. He shook himself out of his thoughts, removing his hands and allowing Inoue to go further into the building, ringing a little bell for service.

And before Chad fully understood what all the feelings for that one busty classmate meant, his heart broke. He didn't know how it broke, because he hadn't even known it was attached to the bouncy Inoue in the first place. But as soon as Ichigo Kurosaki, his friend, walked into the room, and he saw Inoue's face turn a light shade of crimson, he felt a twinge in his chest. And then he was gone.

Gone, gone, flown the scene. He'd backed out of that building like it was on fire. Chad wasn't even sure Ichigo had seen him yet before he'd took off down the road. His long legs carried him easily, even at the fast pace he'd set, and he reached his home in half the time it usually took for him to get there all the way from school.

He didn't understand the crushing feeling on his chest, smothering him. So it was natural that he never understood why it returned when one Inoue Orihime stood beside him on an pedestrian overpass, months later, watching the same orange haired boy as before, the same expression on her face. And he didn't understand either, why, after that, he decided to protect her even if it took his life, and _not _tell Ichigo about it. He planned on doing it all by himself.

The End

Or Is It?

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AN: I might make this a two-shot, possibly even a series, if I really get into it. Otherwise, this's a oneshot. Made it for a friend, because both me and him were complaining that there aren't enough ChadXHime fanfics out there. So, thought I'd fill up that empty space. Personally I prefer IshiHime, but I thought ChIme would be really wicked super cute (when its not being all angsty) so… yeah. Thanks for reading, please review!


	2. Training Together

AN: Alright, since the people asked for it, here's another chapter. (nuh-uh, you were just re-reading some of your stuff and _wanted _to write more for this story, don't lie!) Okay okay, so I wanted to write another one. I also wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody! Hope everyone has a good holiday full of presents (without clothes in them, bleh!), Christmas tree smell, good food, family, lotsa love, fun, and fireworks of course! So here's a gift from me to all of my awesome reviewers, thanks so much!

Lonely Wounds ch. 2

It was a very strange morning, to say the least. It was confusing, and by the end of the school day, not altogether pleasant. Rukia was gone. No one seemed to notice it, either. The teacher didn't call her name during roll call, none of the girls wondered aloud where she was during lunch break, nothing. And Ichigo… seemed dead. He said very little, and though he acted like himself, there was a sluggish, half-hearted feel to everything he did.

Chad had considered Rukia and Ichigo to be friends, good ones. He didn't know if the gut feeling he had was right, but if there could be any evidence that something was wrong with Rukia, it was the way his friend acted.

He also noticed that Orihime acted strangely. Like him and Ichigo, she kept looking at Rukia's empty desk with a puzzled expression on her face. He'd started taking a lot of notice when it came to Orihime, after their previous meeting outside of school. She might have just been worried that Rukia was absent, but then… that didn't explain why no one else was. They asked about Ishida Uryuu, the unsociable boy in their class who hadn't shown up today, but no one had asked about Rukia. No one else was looking at her empty chair.

On his way home from school, Chad saw a dash of bright orange hair sitting down on park stairs and headed towards it, hoping to catch Ichigo and ask him about Rukia's absence. She'd beaten him to it. On the stairs, sitting with Ichigo was Orihime. Chad suddenly felt that horrid feeling in his gut, the one he always got when Orihime was with Ichigo. It twisted different ways for every little thing; if they were talking, if they were touching in any way, how big Orihime's smile was. It was uncomfortable to say the least, but Chad ignored it. The closer she was, the more she smiled… somehow it made him happier.

He felt a bit like he was intruding on something, but after catching a bit of their conversation, Chad stayed where he was and listened. That strange morning he thought he was having was nothing compared to the rest of his day.

Rukia, _was _gone. Gone back to her own world, the world of the dead. It was surprising and not at all at the same time. Memories of her helping him with the ghost, Ichigo and her leaving their bodies and jumping through walls, all the strange things they'd been up to those past few months flooded his mind and his shock was whittled down to nearly non-existent.

He kept listening and found himself worrying as Ichigo told the listening red head next to him about Rukia being in trouble. He told her that he'd get Rukia back and Chad could hear the determination in his voice, see the blaze in his eyes despite the fact that he was looking at the back of his head. Ichigo was serious about this, enough to risk his life already to save Rukia from her fate. Chad found himself determined to help not only Ichigo, but Rukia as well. She was his friend and he had every reason to go rushing off into battle to get her back whether Ichigo asked for his help or not.

It wasn't long after that stranger things began cropping up. Ichigo left for "training to get Rukia" and Orihime lingered on the stairs for a second. When she did get up she was stopped by a lithe black cat. It was sitting regally as most cats do and staring straight at the red-head. Orihime smiled and bent to pet it. Her hand stopped about an inch from the cat's head when it opened its mouth and-

Wait, spoke? Chad's shaded eyes opened as wide as they could go. The cat told Orihime she had a power as well, and accurately guessed that she was going to follow Ichigo to help Rukia. The masculine voice addressed him suddenly and he stepped out from around the corner he'd been listening from behind, a sheepish look on his broad face.

"You need training before you can even hope to get _into_ Soul Society," the cat continued, turning to look up at Chad. Orihime looked at him too, smiling as always. "I can train you."

That was all Chad needed to know. Him and Orihime both ended up in a dingy, leaking, deserted warehouse together with the cat (who they learned to call Yoruichi) for almost the whole summer break. The rest of that summer was used for saving Rukia.

AN: The next chapter, Fighting Together, will hopefully be up soon. Please review and have a happy set of holidays!


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